Deception
Randy Alcorn
Multnomah Books
ISBN: 1590526163
Fiction, Crime
Reviewed by Kell Smurthwaite

Although billed as a sequel, this felt more like a spin-off novel- the main characters from Alcorn’s previous novels featured heavily in the plot, the main focus here is on Detective Ollie Chandler (who appeared in the previous novels) and it works very well as a stand-alone novel that, if you haven’t already read them, will quite probably make the reader want to go back and read the others too as it’s so very good!

This harks back to the style of the old detective novels featuring such famous sleuths as Sam Spade, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, and references them throughout, as well as sticking to the ideals of those heroes. There is very little in the way of “bad language”, as you might expect from a Christian author, but despite the modern setting, this all seems very natural as Ollie Chandler (although most definitely not believer himself) is a man of principle and honour.

There are frequent bible and religious references from Chandler’s very Christian friends, but they don’t intrude on the story- quite the opposite, the actually enhance it and the frantic pace builds as the mystery and danger deepens.

All the characters have very human flaws, making them very easy to identify and sympathize with them from start to finish, the plot is sufficiently winding and intriguing to keep the reader hooked, yet still gives just the right amount of clues to keep those “little grey cells” ticking, and the writing is tight. It has everything you could possibly want from crime fiction and more.